From the PubDef archive — published June 29, 2007, restored 2026. Links and embedded media may point to archived copies.
After getting a free ride through most of his two terms in office, and benefiting from years of praise (deserved and undeserved) for the work of entrepreneurs and developers who’ve been rebuilding and repopulating downtown, Mayor
Francis Slay is having
another tantrum about the
Post-Dispatch’s “careless reporting” — this time, on its late coverage of developer
Paul McKee’s secret plan for a large section of north St. Louis.
“I am a great admirer of Paul McKee,” Slay writes on his blog. “He is a generous donor of time and money to a range of civic enterprises. He is a mainstay of several Catholic charities. In fact, until he decided to spend money acquiring privately owned vacant lots and empty buildings in north St. Louis, he has been either feted or unnoticed. For whatever reason, this particular good deed has earned him the enmity of the local newspaper.”
The mayor, who last year called for a group of local investors to buy the paper, goes on to criticize the Post’s City Hall reporter.
“The story, by political writer/blogger Jake Wagman, is a thin web of half-facts, rumors, and tenuous connections that would have benefited from better editing and less careless reporting,” Slay writes.
The mayor goes on to deny that he knows any details about what McKee has in mind for the 400-plus properties he has acquired so far – but, “I do know that he is buying properties that no one else has even looked at in decades.”
Neighbors of McKee’s properties have complained about his lack of attention to his buildings, which have been cited numerous times by the City for dangerous conditions.
The aldermen in the wards where most of the properties are located have made several attempts to meet with McKee on his plans for the area and the condition of his properties, with no luck. At the same time, the mayor confirmed to the Post-Dispatch that he has met with McKee several times.
While McKee’s plan may eventually lead to much-needed northside development, in the time between his first acquisition and when he breaks ground years from today, residents say his properties are undeniably leading to an even faster decline in the quality of life of people in his targeted neighborhoods.
Perhaps the mayor should heed the words of those citizens at least as much as that of the “vision” of a developer — and not kill the messenger in the process.
McKee wisely wanted to keep the cat in the bag until the last moment, in order to keep his acquisition price as low as possible. But after two front page stories in the daily newspaper, it is probably fair to say the secret is out. Perhaps it is time to bring the aldermen, if not the general public, to the table.
No one — not the public, and obviously not the Post-Dispatch — believes that someone as smart, or at least as rich, as Paul McKee is going to spend millions of dollars on hundreds of properties without a plan for what to do with them.
